Forgiveness
by Holyknightsteve
Summary: After hearing the entire true story about Lloyd and Marble, Chocolat realizes just how she wrong she was in judging Lloyd. She hopes that she can receive forgiveness from the valiant hero but will she get it? LloydXChocolat oneshot


A/N: And here we go with yet another one of my spur-of-the-moment stories. As usual, I don't know what made me think of this, but it wouldn't leave me alone so I thought I'd do a short one-shot or drabble type-thing on it. If nothing else, LloydXChocolat is fairly unique (I haven't seen any others myself but I also haven't looked very hard. Anybody know of any I can add to our C2 archive?) so doing this particular pairing may be, for all I know, ground-breaking. No, I'm not a particular fan of the pairing (it ranks #5 on my LloydXfemale list… as if I had such a thing) but whatever.

If nothing else, this story is just in time for Sweetest Day. Enjoy!

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**_Forgiveness_**

The final hues of blue in the sky vanished and were replaced by a tint of light orange as the sun finally began to descend beyond the horizon. Early evening had finally fallen upon the Iselian part of Symphonia, bringing with it an end to almost everybody's day… _almost_ everybody's day.

The young maiden Chocolat closed her eyes as she made her way through the winding trails of Iselia forest. The bottom of her brown skirt was lightly dusted with dirt from the sparsely traveled trail leading to the home of the bearer of the Eternal Sword… the home of the young hero she had once called "murderer". Lost in thought, she did not even notice the small gash in the left sleeve of her green, long-sleeved blouse caused by a wild rose bush she had just recently paused. None of these trivial things mattered now. All that was one her mind now was finding some way to apologize to the valiant boy that had done everything in his power to save her grandmother. No matter who it was from the Iselian ranch that she asked, the response was always the same:

_"Lloyd? Yeah, he's a good kid. Treated old lady Marble real nice-like."_

"You should've seen Lloyd when he saved Marble from getting beaten. He was so brave!"

"I overheard them talking the first time those two met and, without knowing hardly anything about her, he offered to make her a key crest so she wouldn't be overtaken by her exsphere. How's that for generosity?"

"Even with the risk of being captured, Lloyd refused to just leave Marble to face the Desians alone. He literally had to be dragged away by the boy he was with. She even pleaded with him to leave so he wouldn't get in trouble."

Chocolat stopped dead in her tracks as a number of tears began to stream down her cheek. She couldn't believe what she was doing. After she had so harshly and unfairly judged Lloyd, how could she possibly hope to gain forgiveness from him? She didn't deserve forgiveness and didn't expect it but she felt that she had to apologize anyway. Even if he didn't forgive her, she might be able to rest easier if she did this. Who knows? Maybe he would forgive her and they might even be able to become friends. He didn't seem like the kind of person that holds grudges after-all. Maybe he would give her a chance.

She continued to make her way up the trail to Lloyd's house, looking around her very rapidly all the while. She was nervous, there was no doubt about that, perhaps even scared. Wiping the slowly drying tears from her cheeks, she allowed herself to become lost in her own mind as she thought back to the conversation she had with Lloyd's friend Genis just before she left.

_"What everybody said about Lloyd is true. He didn't know that the monster we fought was actually Marble until it was too late. It was until Marble attacked Forcystus that we finally found out what was going on. She… she died to protect us."_

"…are you serious? Grandma saved you?"

"Yes. After everything that happened in Iselia, Lloyd never forgave himself for what happened to Marble, even though there was nothing that he or anyone else could do for her. It wasn't his fault!"

"…"

"You should have to ask, no, beg for his forgiveness! It's his kind heart that tried to preserve Marble's life! It's his bravery that saved your mom from the Desians! It's his selflessness that saved you from a Human Ranch, not once, but twice! You've acted terribly towards him! You didn't even give him a chance to explain himself before! You took the word of a Desian over his! A Desian! Your judgment of him was on his mind throughout our entire journey! Do you have any idea how he feels?"

"I…I'm sorry. I didn't know what to think at the time."

"Don't apologize to me. Save it for Lloyd… and maybe you should tell him that."

"Tell him what?"

"That you didn't know what to think at the time. Knowing Lloyd, he might actually sympathize with you."

"Would he really?" she asked herself as she finally came to the end of the trail. Just beyond the bridge that spanned the stream in front of the house, she could see Lloyd swinging his swords around, perhaps in training. She quietly walked over to a nearby tree and peeked from the side of it to observe Lloyd.

His attire was even more simple than usual. He wore a white muscle-shirt along with a pair of black sweat pants. His show-less feet were caked with dirt from his constant movement on the near grassless surface in front of his house. A stray piece of brown cloth was tucked into his pants which he pulled out at one point to wipe the glistening sweat from his face. He sheathed his wooden training swords and turned to the sound of his faithful companion, Noishe.

"Hey there boy!" he said happily as the strange animal nearly knocked him over and started licking his face. "Haha, whoa there, easy.

Chocolat smiled when she saw this. To her, this only further proved Lloyd's innocence. She always felt that an animal can always determine a human's true intentions. Surely Noishe wouldn't be with Lloyd if he was a bad person.

Noishe stopped his "assault" on Lloyd and looked in the direction of the tree where Chocolat was hiding. His ears perked up as he whined. Lloyd stared in the direction that Noishe was looking. "Huh? What is it boy?" He listened to animal whined again. "I see…" He waved his arms in the air. "Is someone there? Don't worry, he won't bite."

Chocolat swallowed a lump in her throat. "Well, here goes…" She stepped out from behind the tree and slowly made her way towards Lloyd. "H-hello Lloyd."

Lloyd titled his head. "Huh? Chocolat? Is that you?"

She nodded. "Y-yes. Did I come at a bad time?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I was just doing a little training while I was waiting for dinner." He paused. "I have to say that I certainly didn't expect you to come here."

Chocolat's eyes lowered. "I see. I can leave if you want me too."

Lloyd waved his arms in front of him. "No no, I don't mean it like that! I just… I thought you hated me."

She raised her eyes so that they met Lloyd's. "That's what I came here to talk about. Can we sit down?"

He nodded slowly. "Uh, sure." He looked around and scratched his head. "Uh, sorry, but we don't have any chairs or anything."

She smiled. "That's alright. Thank you though. The grass next to the stream will be fine."

He nodded and walked to the spot she indicated. Once she was next to him, the two sat down and stared at the water. "So… what's up?" said Lloyd in a poor attempt to start up the conversation."

She looked at Lloyd for a moment. When her eyes started to water, she looked away. "I-I wanted to apologize to you Lloyd."

"Huh?"

"For blaming you for grandma's death."

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. "No, it was my fault. It was my actions that led to Marble's death."

She looked back at Lloyd and grabbed his hand. He looked back up at her. "Chocolat?"

The tears flowed more freely as she struggled to speak again. "I've talked to Genis and everyone that came from the Iselia ranch. They all said the same thing: they all said that you were a wonderful person that tried to help my grandma. Genis said that you didn't even know the monster was my grandma until it was too late. He said that… he said that grandma even saved you and Genis in the end."

"Chocolat…"

At this point, she threw her arms around Lloyd and cried on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Lloyd. I'm not asking you to forgive me. I-I just wanted to apologize to you. I know nothing I can ever say will make up for what I did to you but-"

"I forgive you."

Her eyes opened widely as she slowly pulled back and looked into Lloyd's eyes. "W-what?"

He smiled weakly. "I forgive you."

She sniffled. "But… why?"

He closed his eyes. "I never held anything against you. In your position, I might've done the same thing, so…"

"But the things I said…"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. All this time, I've been trying to think of a way to apologize to you. I was hoping that, well, y'know, we could perhaps be friends someday."

She sniffled again, this time with a small smile. "You mean it?"

He nodded. "Sure do."

Noishe walked over and nudged Chocolat's cheek with his nose. Lloyd laughed. "Haha, looks like Noishe likes you."

She giggled and hugged Lloyd. "Thank you Lloyd. Colette is really lucky to have a guy like you at her side."

He tilted his head. "Huh? Oh, haha, don't misunderstand. Colette and I aren't together."

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong. We've been close friends for a very long time, but being together "like that" seemed kinda… eh… to me. Besides, I saw her and Genis walking together the other day."

"Then… then you're…"

"Lloyd!" yelled Dirk from the front door. "Dinner's ready!" He took a step out the door and noticed that Lloyd was sitting with someone. "Oh? Who's this fine lass Lloyd? I don't believe I've ever seen her before."

Lloyd and Chocolat both stood up. "Dad, this is my friend Chocolat," said Lloyd.

Dirk looked her over and smiled. "Well now, ain't she a fine-looking lass?" He laughed and asked Chocolat directly, "Lloyd's a fine young man, isn't he?"

Lloyd blushed and rubbed his head. She to blushed and replied. "Y-yes he is."

The dwarf laughed again. "Well then Lloyd, why don't you invite the young lady in for dinner? I'll go prepare another place at the table." With that, he walked back inside.

Lloyd looked at Chocolat with a smile. "Well, uh… would you like to join me, err, us for dinner?"

She giggled. "Of course I would. Thank you."

Lloyd nodded and began to walk inside. He didn't get far before he felt Chocolat grab his hand. Looking back, he saw her blush once again. He laughed and held her hand a bit more tightly as the two walked inside… together.

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How was it? An odd pairing, yes, but I hope you liked it all the same. Please leave a review, and happy Sweetest Day everyone!


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